Sunny Days

It may be the California in me, but I can't get enough of this sunny weather! Here's a few of our days in the sun...

Friday at quitin' time. Off to the park!

The Hogle Zoo (courtesy of my awesome colleague and mom friend Amanda Butterfield. Her little Thomas has a crush on "Baby Emma" as he calls her)

Bubbles on the porch

 

Balloons! At the 5k fun run to raise money for the YW girl's camp. This picture doesn't even do justice to how excited she was.

Prepping for swimsuit season. Some exercise for baby girl...

but, she got a little tired and distracted here and there.

Ogden's 25th street to meet Mandi while she's in town!

Twins on accident. A true sign of best cousins.

Only missing a few :(

Because of Him

What an amazing Easter Sunday! I was so proud to see friends, family and so many participate in the the LDS social campaign "Because of Him." If you didn't get a chance, watch this video to learn more. I probably watched it 10 times.

The theme for my Easter this year was truly how impactful the Savior's atonement and resurrection were not only for me, but all mankind. I know it seems like a very basic principle, but this year it struck me how everything throughout eternity depended on this one day. Such a hopeful, beautiful, wonderful day. Because of Him, my family is mine forever and no trial or sin can keep me from returning to His presence.

My favorite line of the song "I Believe in Christ" ran through my mind. "I believe in Christ, so come what may."

Our day was filled with lots of love, a trip to walk the temple grounds and dinner at Aunt Becky's.

My little school girl and her daddy. 

Miguel's Big Surprise

Yes, I surprised the unsurprisable Michael Andrew White on his big day. I consulted with TV expert Cade Carter 15 days prior - that's a lot for this procrastinator - ordered it online, hid it upstairs in our landlord's loft, and then came home from work on his birthday to set it up with my babysitter. GENIUS! pure, genius. Oh, and I thought Michael had a hunch, so I printed off a fake receipt showing that we had tickets to a Dodger game when we were out in CA for fourth of July. He was totally deceived... until we got home and I blew it. He said he was going to go charge his phone before we blew out candles. No! You can't! (I left the TV box in the bedroom. ugh). One look at my face, and he knew. Thankfully, I got in the living room just in time to get a video clip of the surprise.

Plus, it was really sweet to celebrate him just the three of us. We missed our extended family and would have loved to have everyone, but I really liked knowing that we're his closest family now. That sounds funny, but I hope you know what I mean.

 More birthday celebration with Tyler and Megan

These two. 

We love this guy. Happy Birthday, old man. 

Spring 2014

Spring has sprung in Salt Lake City, and we couldn't be happier. Utah springs are probably the best around, and this year, they have been full of tender moments and great memories - Michael's birthday, a beautiful Easter Sunday, visits to the park, first steps, the closing of our second year at law school, and my very first real Mother's Day.

The next few posts will take you through them, but just for posterity's sake, here are EmmaJane's best moments:

At 10 months (April 25, 2014) I got a text from the babysitter that EmmaJane has got "standing down." It was so sad to get that while I was at work, but I was still a proud mama. 

She will sit on my lap, suck her thumb while I sing her songs and then all of sudden turn around and blow raspberries on my arm.

She started throwing her head back and laughing. I wonder who she learned that from (guilty!), and she usually does it in Costco so everyone gets a kick out of it. 

Her favorite foods are still blueberries, frozen peas, string cheese and cheerios. Takes after her mama. A girl of habit. BUT, she pretty much will eat everything under the sun.

At the beginning of 11 months she took her first few steps (May 2, 2014) and it was adorable. 

She learned a few more words, except she doesn't say them, she just does them -- kisses (she purses her lips and goes "mmmmm" to give you a kiss), night night (I lay her down for bed and she puts her hand over her mouth to blow me a kiss), popcorn popping on the apricot tree (she puts her hands in the air to act out popcorn popping). Too much cuteness.

She'll walk around just holding your hand. Michael loves this.

Singing! She's started singing to herself and I almost die. If she wakes up in a good mood, she'll lay there just singing to herself and then start laughing. Or in the car. She does it all the time in the car. 

We've been trying to teach her "no." So much so, that Michael uses it usually five times in a row. So after a long day of work, I came home to find out that she had definitely learned the word "no," except her version was "ma, ma, ma, ma, ma" while shaking her finger. (May 16, 2014)